The Shift From Apple To Google Is Part Of A Much Larger Economic Development

Well, not necessarily, but while Apple's stock continues to grind lower, Google's stock is on a tear.

And now analysts are jumping over themselves to get more bullish on Google.

Just yesterday, two separate analysts put $1,000 price targets on the stock.

What gives? Well, of course people can make up all kinds of stories about the momentum of either company, and their products and so forth.

But there's a bigger macro-market story as well.

Throughout recent years, Apple has basically been an asset class on its own: Gold, commodities, stocks, bonds, and Apple.

If you were in Apple, your portfolio did great. If you weren't, you almost certainly lagged the market. End of story.

At a time when people were uncertain about markets, Apple was a solid store of value. A company growing at abnormal speeds at a good price. Even if the economy were to slow, there was Apple, which you know would still be crushing it.

But things have shifted in recent months. There's a sense that the economy's recovery is a bit more durable, and safe havens all around the world have faded as investors have grown more comfortable venturing back towards risky waters. We've seen big declines in gold, German Bunds, the Swiss Franc, and the yen — all assets that did very well during the crisis.

So if you're going to get a downdraft in safe-haven assets, as people rush towards riskier assets, then it makes sense that Apple would get caught up in that too. People are looking to see what else is out there.

The switch from Apple to Google (in the stock market) is as much a story about the big macro-economic shift as it is about two tech companies.